{"id":6175,"date":"2020-11-09T10:05:28","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T07:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/?p=6175"},"modified":"2020-11-09T10:05:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-09T07:05:28","slug":"matatu-operators-have-dared-badi-the-nms-boss-to-kick-them-out-of-cbd-saying-he-will-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/matatu-operators-have-dared-badi-the-nms-boss-to-kick-them-out-of-cbd-saying-he-will-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Matatu operators have dared Badi the NMS boss to kick them out of CBD saying he will fail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">Nairobi Metropolitan Services will next month roll out an ambitious plan that if successful, might restore order in the green city under the sun.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">But even before that can be implemented, the Matatu Owners Association (MOA) has dared the military man \u201cto bring it on\u201d and kick them out of CBD.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">Like Governor Mike Sonko, according to them, he will fail.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cIf he does not consult us. You do not wake-up and after having breakfast in the morning you come and thump your chest that you are going to throw the public transport out of the city. That is not acceptable,\u201d said MOA chairperson Simon Kimutai.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">Speaking on Thursday, Kimutai said they will support Badi\u2019s plans only if their set of conditions are met, including being consulted on the ban on matatus in CBD.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cInvolve us, we give you ideas on how to decongest the city.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cWe are telling him to buy a Matatu and see the pain we undergo. Don\u2019t issue statements without weighing them, you are hurting many people. We are ready to cooperate in decongesting the city in a manner that is acceptable by us but not what you push down our throats.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">A previous attempt by Sonko to kick PSVs out of the city failed due to lack of a proper strategy, according to transport sector experts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">NMS plans to construct strategic bus termini in all entry points of the city, where the journey for the Matatu will be terminate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">Speaking on Citizen TV, Badi was categorical the CBD will be freed of matatus, coming a day after matatu operators threatened to withdraw services next week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">The matatu stakeholders on Tuesday issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Ministry of Transport challenging the government to allow them to carry the maximum passenger capacity and lift Covid-19 restrictions on numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">The chairperson of the Matatu and Bodaboda Operators Federation Kushian Muchiri said the matatus had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the government.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cWe are giving the government up to Tuesday next week to relax Covid-19 restrictions in the matatu sector just like it had done to other industries or matatus will also carry 100 percent full capacity. We called off the strike yesterday (Tuesday) after consultations with the Interior Ministry and Transport and said this week we will have a meeting to sort out issues we are having,\u201d said Muchiri.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">The operators are protesting the requirement on 60 per cent capacity imposed in March by the Ministry of Health to help contain the spread of Covid-19.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cEither we carry full capacity or we take all our vehicles to the police station by next week Tuesday, the Covid-19 that\u2019s in matatus is the same in planes and trains and we are telling the government not to underestimate us,\u201d added Jamal Ibrahim of the Association of Matatu Operators.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">He said the sector had made numerous requests to authorities to no avail even as many public service operators have been defying the PSV Covid-19 rules.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">In Mombasa, commuters and matatu operators were on Tuesday morning arrested after police launched a crackdown on those flouting Covid-19 regulations and more than100 PSVs impounded during the dawn raid.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">Police said those arrested had no masks and the matatus had not provided them with water and soap to wash their hands hence they will be charged with flouting public health rules.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">All public transport users are required to wear masks that must cover the mouth and nose as part of the measures announced by the Health Ministry to curb the spread of Covid-19 in Kenya.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">In May, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe gazetted a list of hefty penalties against violators.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cUsers of public or private transport and public transport operators shall wear proper masks that must cover the mouth and nose. They should also maintain a physical distance of not less than a metre,\u201d Mr Kagwe said in the Kenya Gazette Supplement No 41.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 12pt;\">\u201cA person who commits an offence under these rules shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding Sh20,000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or both.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nairobi Metropolitan Services will next month roll out an ambitious plan that if successful, might restore order in the green city under the sun. But even before that can be implemented, the Matatu Owners Association (MOA) has dared the military man \u201cto bring it on\u201d and kick them out of CBD. Like Governor Mike Sonko,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,1905],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-news"],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pej6K6-1BB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kicking-Matatus-Out-of-CBD-magaripoa.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magaripoa.com\/gari\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}